Moments ago, Engadget reported on a leaked memo from Best Buy which details the retailer’s early plans for the recently announced launch of Windows 7. Whilst their article falls into somewhat of a misled Vista-bashing rabbit hole, their readers even point out the juicer part of the scoop, the first indications of how much Windows 7 is going to cost.

Assuming the memo is legitimate and accurate, Best Buy will allow customers to preorder Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade for $49.99 and Windows 7 Professional Upgrade for $99.99 from end of June.

Having said, even if this was a Best Buy promotional offer, I can’t imagine them bearing a loss on each sale so retail prices should still be cheaper than Vista.

If we take these comparisons between upgrade versions and impose them onto full editions, then Windows 7 Home Premium could cost ~$99.99 (Vista $269.99), and Windows 7 Professional $149 (Vista $299). If these predictions are true, then Windows 7 could be quite the offer. If not, then you know where to order from to get the best deals on 7.

Update: As commenter “Andre Da Costa” pointed out, a similar if not exactly the same deal was also offered for the introduction of Windows Vista which could indicate this be an time-limited offer and will not reflect the retail price of Windows 7.

@Sam: no, there is no upgrade path or support that proves XP users will get that kind of pricing..this is pricing for vista users only from what it can be quickly guessed based on microsoft support and upgrade protocols.

But it would be a incredible proposition of course..

these upgrade prices where the prices i speculated on over six months ago. i hope i am indeed right and this is the price we are going to see:

50, 100,150 for upgrades and 100,199 and 300 for full commercial versions.

This pricing will apply only to those that purchase a PC with pre-installed Vista/XP? from Best Buy during the transition period. This is a scam, the upgrade to Windows 7, should be free.

Whatever you do, don’t buy a PC from Toshiba. If something should go wrong in the future, for example, your Windows 7 disk becomes corrupt, they’ll send you a recovery disk so you can reinstall the original software that was pre-installed on their computer. That’s right, unless it comes pre-installed on their computer they won’t help you out and neither will Microsoft; you are on your own. So why bother, wait until your new computer comes with Windows 7 pre-installed.

@james, I bet if you add up the price of a Mac, and add the $29.00 to upgrade to snow leopard you will still be spending more as the majority of people who purchased a PC a year or so ago and also purchases an upgrade to Windows 7.

james, then why the hell are you looking at windows stuff if you have a mac? plus, upgrading to windows 7 doesn’t mean the same as upgrading to snow leopard. At least pretty much everyone can upgrade to Windows 7, where-as the majority of Mac users have to buy a new computer to run snow leopard, plus maybe even have to upgrade what they already have. Also, you have to have Leopard to upgrade to Snow Leopard for $29, otherwise, you have to spend well over the windows pricing to upgrade, that is, if your maching can run it.

BEST BUY IS FALSE ADVERTISING THEY ARE NOT GIVING THE PEOPLE THE WINDOWS 7 LIKE THEY WERE SUPPOSE TO. THEY ARE TELLING THEM THEIR CREDIT CARDS ARE NOT GOOD AND YOU CAN’T PREORDER .WHAT THEY DO IS CHARGE YOUR CARD EVERY DAY UNTIL THE CREDIT CARD COMPANY SAYS THEY CAN CHARGE IT BECAUSE IT WAS CHARGED 20 OR 30 TIMES THEN CREDITED BACK THIS IS FOR BEST BUY TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE FUNDS IN THEIR ,BUT IF YOU DO IT TO MANY TIMES CREDIT CARD COMPANYS WONT CHARGE IT TO YOUR ACCOUNT BECAUSE OF ALL THE CHARGES ,THIS IS HOW BEST BUY GETS OUT OF SELLING YOU WINDOWS 7 FOR 49.99 !!!!!!! THEY ARE NOW BEING REPORTED TOP THE ATTORNEY GENERAL